Woodland council serves tennis proposal back to Recreation Commission

A plan to use the city's tennis courts for nothing else but tennis was found at fault and served back to Woodland Parks & Recreation Commission Tuesday.

Woodland Public Works Superintendent Rob Sanders served up the idea after members of the Woodland Tennis Club complained about courts being used for soccer, skating and even cricket.

But members of the City Council said staff was taking the wrong approach by banning non-tennis players without first coming up with some other solutions.

Art Williams, president of the Woodland Tennis Club, explained that the courts were being ruined by cricket players who pounded their bats on the pavement, and by others he has seen leaning on the nets.

Williams said he will often check on the condition of tennis courts and find them used for other purposes.

"One day I got up the nerve to go over and talk to a group of young people leaning on the nets," Williams explained. "It can be very intimidating ... sometimes people bring their dogs to the courts as well" where they will leave their feces.

Sanders agreed with Williams that the tennis courts are being used for non-tennis events, and noted it can cost a lot of money to resurface damaged courts. However, he didn't specify in his report to the council the amount of money being spent to repair courts.

"Over the last year, staff has received an increase in complaints related to non-tennis activities being performed on our municipal courts," he wrote in a report to the council. These non-tennis activities haven not only been detrimental to the netting and court surfaces, but have also discouraged tennis players from utilizing the courts for the purpose for which they were intended."

"Furthermore, staff has observed or heard of nets being tied up and stretched, cricket bats being slammed into the court surfaces ,skateboarding on the courts, and tennis players being intimidated to leave so non-tennis activities can take place."

Sanders said Woodland police have been called "several times" regarding conflicts, as well as "rude and discourteous behavior toward tennis players and neighboring residents."

Police can do little, he reported, beyond merely talking to those "causing the problems.

"This has not been an effective deterrent to these groups, as these types of activities continue to persist," he wrote.

Among the city's 20 parks, four have tennis courts: Beamer Park, City park, Crawford Park and Woodside Park.

But some councilmen weren't buying the explanation and wanted a do-over. Sean Denny, for example, said he had seen his share of tennis players pounding their racquets on court surfaces, causing their share of damage.

However, it was Parks and Recreation Commissioner Enrique Fernandez, who had the most significant follow through with the council, saying he was opposed to any penalties, although he was not against finding a solution.

Fernandez said it would "be prudent for the council to look at how many of the courts are being used for tennis" before an outright ban on any other sport.

He also said the public shouldn't be penalized for using city facilities if it didn't provide those facilities, and that alternate athletic endeavors should be encouraged.

Fernandez also said the commission had taken no formal action on the request to ban non-tennis players from city courts, something that Sanders didn't speak too.

Sanders told the council the commission had asked about what was being done to address the problem, but offered no specific direction. Woodland Mayor Skip Davies was conciliatory, noting that Sanders was asking for a tool to take action against people not playing tennis on tennis courts.

But, again, Denny said it didn't make sense to tell people they couldn't use the facilities if no one else was using them at the time for tennis. He proposed sending the matter to the Recreation Commission for more deliberative consideration and proposal. That direction, however, was met with a counter-proposal by Councilman Bill Marble - a former tennis player - who was worried about the damage and paying for it.

Marble's motion failed, and the matter was served to commissioners for consideration.